Directly to the content Skip to maincontent Directly to the footer Skip to footercontent

Science meets Fiction: Looking back on the 1st Star Trek Day at h_da

Applied Cyber Security Darmstadt

Beam us up, h_da! On Friday, March 6, 2026, over 260 Star Trek enthusiasts transformed h_da's "Glaskasten" into an intergalactic research station. Under the motto "Science meets fiction – Star Trek in an interdisciplinary reality check," researchers from h_da teamed up with experts from the fields of computer science, design, and social work to analyze the scientific credibility of the Star Trek universe.

Cybersecurity in the 24th century

One topic of the evening was a technical look at the federation's IT security. Prof. Dr. Christoph Krauß from the Applied Cyber Security Darmstadt (ACSD) research group highlighted critical security gaps in the enterprise, from a lack of zero-trust architectures to the danger of mass hacks in networked fleets, which tied in directly with ACSD's research in the field of automotive security.

Extensive media coverage in the run-up to the event

The event attracted enormous media interest in the run-up to the event. The Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper published an in-depth interview with Prof. Dr. Christoph Krauß [link to article], in which he explained why the security strategies of Captain Picard and Co. are more relevant today than ever before. The topic was also covered on the radio: the stations hr1, hr2, and YOU FM reported on the event in advance.

Highlights and documentation

The evening, which was headlined by the Trek am Dienstag podcasters [to the website], was hosted by presenter Doris Winter. For anyone who couldn't be there live or would like to relive the evening, there is extensive material available:

  • Science magazine impact: A detailed article about the event can be found [here online].
  • TV report: The HR magazine Maintower also reported on the event (report starts at minute 13:05): [to the video].

We would like to thank the GFTN (Society for the Promotion of Young Technical Talent) and the Department of Computer Science for their generous support of this successful “away mission.”

Photography: Markus Schmidt

Back